A Piece of Peace
by chicketieboo
Summary: Willow knows she's back to help Buffy and the scoobies with the big bad, but she didn't realize that she was a main ingredient to THIS disasterous pie, now she will get help from the one she least expected
1. Chapter one

Disclaimer~ Ok, If I owned Buffy, I wouldn't of made last season so friggin depressing, but this season is good so yay!   
  
  
  
Spike was pacing back and forth in the darkness, being a messenger for the many voices in his head. His shirt was off to reveal the many burn marks of the cross that were still healing. He didn't know if it was night or day but he really didn't care. The darkness of the school's basement was providing him all he needed and the blood he drank was the small amount he could recieve from the rats or what Buffy had started to bring him.   
  
"Gotta be good, gotta be good for daddy, daddy loves the good boy! Never loved the poet, never never... rhyming was a crime... Remember to always hide your poems, in the little shoe box under then bed, kept all your good ones there! The one about the mongoose...and the one about the Girl! Remember the one you wrote for her? Never let anyone read it... How did it go? Fair and lovely skin? Golden tresses that fall to your shoulders like the sun and stars? Bloody horrible pap compared to your earlier work. God? Did you know daddy hated you? Told him he was going to hell, meet him there for a spot of tea later, can't get the spot of blood out though..." He was mumbling.   
  
"Spike?" Called a familair voice.   
  
"Little red riding hood! Back from grandaddy's so soon? Course you are, of course, you were a good girl and visited me awhile back. I did some travelling myself. As you probably know... Im the big bad wolf, you should stay away, what lovely little teethies I have..." Spike stopped, he could smell her drying healing blood. But more then that he could smell her pain. It was something he was smelling alot of these days, a pungent smell that resembled the same as fear but was a bit more distinct. Slowly he stopped speaking out what the voices were saying in his shattered mind and slowed his pace. He managed to piece together a sentence.   
  
"Are you Hurt?" He asked in the direction of Willow, as slowly she emerged from the shadows and walked a bit closer.   
  
"Just a touch, I'm healing now, Everything's going to be ok." She said trying to convince herself more then the demon infront of her.   
  
"Not at all! Not at all little princess. She is in danger, danger awaits us all! The lovely goddess that walks this plain knows everything and yet nothing. Could never know, not like you and I, we know all about death and destruction. Just you wait, the slug was nothing, like a pet he was, evil is chaos, chaos is confusion..." He rambled on, talking slow steps towards her.   
  
Willow was not afraid, he wasn't trying to make her so, infact they had a common bond, one that need not be voiced.   
  
They knew that the evil was on its way, the destruction of not only this earth, but of the planets and galaxies, and other dimensions forever.   
  
"I know Spike, I know she's in danger, And I know that you want to help. Can you help me Spike? Can you help me help her?" Willow asked as he finally found his way over to her and put his hand on her arm.   
  
"Spike has been a naughty lad, a naughty lad he has been. Kinda a poet like Dr. Suess Spike is, he always did kinda like his work. Sorry, told too much I'm afraid, he doesn't want to come out and play even if you gave him candy. Look at the witch worry, witchie witch witch. Beautiful girl she is, you would be sad if you knew about who made higher power, higher power my left heel! Or maybe my right. Got lucky she did. Damn cheerleading squad, like Harmony, never could stand that girl..."   
  
Willow tried to make sense of something, anything he said, this was going to be hard and she knew it, but it needed to be done. The coven had told her that something was going to happen, that she needed to be there to help stop it. They trusted her with the lives of her friends and she was going to do everything in her power to help stop it   
  
"Spike, I want you to try and concentrate," Willow said placing her arms on Spike and he closed his eyes.   
  
"Will it hurt?" He asked in a hush like whisper.   
  
"What?" Willow asked wondering if he knew what she was planning on doing.   
  
"Will it hurt when you save them, the pain I feel it is big, like the evil, I think the evil is feeding off it... needs it."   
  
"No, don't say anything I just want you to concentrate... what is the evil?" She said. He looked at her with eyes full of tears and tried his best to listen. Both beings took a sharp intake of breath as she plunged into the depths of his mind, or what was left of it.   
  
She knew it was risky but she needed to know what he saw, what he felt, what he knew without decoding riddles all night.   
  
She was terrified as Spike's hand pulled her through the blackness, until they reached a room.   
  
Willow wanted to cry out in pain at the sight of Spike's mind, but she couldn't, she knew that anything she did could disrupt what was already left.   
  
The room was mostly a large deep pool of crimson black blood with steps and a platform on eachside. The blood was of every person Spike had killed, and the bodies of the deseased still floated above and back and forth. The voices were a harsh and disturbing whisper, all chanting a different story...   
  
"I had six children..."   
  
"You made me believe..."   
  
"I trusted you..."   
  
"You tortured my daughter infront of me..."   
  
"Demon..."   
  
"Animal..."   
  
"Savage..."   
  
Those were just a few things Willow could hear them proclaiming. She had the urge to place her hands over her ears and block out the voices. However, she was in a mind, and voices in your or someone elses head do not vanish when you try to block them out, infact, they become more powerful.   
  
Taking a deep breath she walked through the blood to the other platform on the other side of the room, it was there she saw Spike curled up in a ball, huddling in the corner.   
  
She tried not to think about the dead bodies touching her as she reached the otherside.   
  
"Spike?" She asked calling.   
  
"Why lookie lookie, little red..." The familair sarcastic voice airily said.   
  
"Spike, I need your help." Willow said leaning over him.   
  
Spike lifted his head from his knees and Willow saw the tear stains streaked on his cheeks.   
  
"Bloody ask to give her what she deserves and look what I get?" He said laughing bitterly.   
  
"I GET THEM!" He screamed at the bodies who now where laughing at him raspily.   
  
"Spike, who are they?" Willow said looking back at the distance she had covered.   
  
"I invited them over, they wanted to catch up on old times," he said lifting his body and standing up.   
  
"I'm sorry, I should have known..." Willow said looking away, she had been trying to make small talk, trying to not think about what she just had to do to get to him.   
  
"Willow..." Spike said touching her face, so that she looked back at him.   
  
"You have the power, you are amazing, the light from you..." He said in awe.   
  
"I know, the coven told me, big ole protection powers, not very helpful if you don't know what to do..." She said to him in a sad, defeated voice.   
  
"You already know, the earth is connected to everything, you are one with the earth, you are an angel among us all... You will save her where others will perish."   
  
"Other's will Perish?" Willow asked looking at Spike.   
  
He dropped his hand and cleared his throat, looking away. She knew that he had said to much.   
  
"You must go, stay here too long you might end up like me... trapped." He said looking back at her with genuinely soulful eyes.   
  
"Come back with me..." She said, she didn't want to leave him in this disturbing state.   
  
"I can't, everytime I try to cross the bloody bastards pull me down, one day though, I will remember I don't need to swim to live and keep going..." He said again with that same bitter laugh.   
  
Willow sighed and hugged him before she began to leave. She didn't know what possessed her to do so, but she felt it was the best way to thank him for the very little he could do. As she waded her way through the pool of blood she heard the voices roar in her ears, faintly one came in and out of play that distrubed her the most.   
  
"Little tree, little tree Willow don't you cry, you will be the one to save us, where others will surely die..."   
  
TBC 


	2. Chapter two

I dont own anything buffy, not at all, unfortunately, but maybe one day, the worlds will collapse and no one will care if I do pretend...  
  
ANYWHO  
  
Chapter two  
  
  
  
  
Willow closed the door silently behind her, hoping that she wouldn't be noticed as she came in late from her walk.  
  
"Your late..." She heard Dawn call from behind her as she had began to climb the stairs to the comfortable bed that awaited her.  
  
"Yeah, my thinking walk was a bit longer from all the thinking and such... You know, with the lots of stuff to think about." Willow said trying to bridge the awkward silence. Dawn and her had not really been speaking since her return, and Willow did not blame her. After all, she did try to kill her.   
  
"You know, you shouldn't be out so late, it's not really safe." Dawn said shifting her weight from foot to foot.   
  
Willow smiled, Dawn had been worried, which meant she still cared about her enough to.   
  
"I will remember that next time," she said and turned, beginning to walk up the stairs once more.  
  
"I still am not..."  
  
"I know," Willow said subconsiously to her without stopping her climb.  
  
"I know you haven't forgiven yet, I can only hope you can someday."  
  
Dawn heard in her head as she saw Willow close the bedroom door.  
  
  
^^   
(W)  
  
  
  
"Love is a fickled thing, fickled like eating an ice cream on a cold winters day because it's too damn hot. What's that? There is no such thing as love? Why Mr. voice, that is nothing to say! Nothing to say at all! Why would you be so rude to totally abolish love? Love is like oxygen! Love is a many splendid thing, love lifts us up where we belong! All you need is love! Bloody Clem and his Moulin Rouge fettish, made me watch that pap more then once. There must be love, love has to exsist, becuase only love could be this cruel. Only love could deny me everything even when I submitted to it, only love could torture this.... Soul." Spike moaned lying staring up at the ceiling   
  
  
^ ^   
(W)  
  
  
Willow lay on her bed thinking of what Spike had told her, the big bad this time, wasn't some cheap armageddon thrill that they had seen so many times before. She didn't even know exactly what it was, but he told her she knew, that deep down inside she felt it, for she was connected to the earth.  
All she had to do was look inside her to know what they would be dealing with and then and only then would she be able to help Buffy.   
  
She closed her eyes, finding peace in her meditiations, she needed to know, the sooner the better, what kind of horrors they would have to face, and who might actually succum, or die fighting.  
  
Nothing was coming to her, and in frustration she lay down and gave up for the night.  
  
^ ^   
(W)  
  
"How is she?" Xander asked Buffy as they ate breakfast. It had become a morning tradition, Xander would show up and give them a ride in his new car to school, and instead of paying for gas they cooked him breakfast.  
  
"She's... tired. It's Willow, a calm and distant one though. I don't know if it is just recent events, or if this is what it's going to be like forever now. Not that I'm complaining, a non evil Willow is a happy Willow, but, it's just..." Buffy said forking three pancakes onto Xander's plate as he watched her from above the paper he had out.  
  
"She needs time, this is alot of stuff were expecting her to get through just like that." Xander said folding up the paper and placing it beside him before he picked up his fork and started his morning ritual of shoveling.  
  
Buffy looked at her family sitting around the table. It had become so small so fast, her Mother, Giles Anya, Tara, and now Willow. She hated to admit it but she wished Spike was here too. How could she wish that? She hated herself sometimes for actually not being able to hurt him like he hurt her. She didn't know how to feel, how could you love someone you didn't even like?  
  
"These pancakes are awesome Buff... what did you do different this time?" Xander said between mouthfuls.  
  
"I didn't make them." Buffy said refilling his milk glass and sitting down. Xander's face went pale as he choked down the bite, and then smiled weakly.  
  
"I made them!" Dawn finally piped up, carefully she had been avoiding the topic of Willow. She smiled at the sight of Xander's face shining with recognition.  
  
"Why what a lucky man I am, two little ladies at home to take care of me."  
  
"You wish Harris, just because you got that premotion doesn't mean that you can buy our love with car rides," Buffy said then added, "you have to do better then that."   
  
"It's not easy being a working man, I always thought I would get to do to the whole I love Lucy thing, 'Lucy I'm home!' But now it's like 'Lucy? is anyone here?' and if I'm a good boy, she will be on T.V. so I can fall alseep." Xander said picking up the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.   
  
"Do you want to go out for lunch together today Buff? Maybe it can go towards my tab of the abundant things I owe?" He said smiling.  
  
"Thanks sweetie, but I don't think I can, I'm swamped in case files and other things." Buffy said not looking him in the eye. However she saw his smile fade from her vantage point and waited for his persuations.  
  
"Buffy, why do you care? The guy tried to rape you! Why do you care if he's ok or not?" Xander whispered feircely, trying not to get Dawn's attention.  
  
"Xander I can't keep having these conversations with you. I have told you many times." She said walking away from him.  
  
"Then tell me again!" Xander said when Dawn was out of ear range.  
  
"Because, he's changed."  
  
"I can hardly say the loss of your sanity is a change for the better Buffy."  
  
"You don't understand Xander and you never will," Buffy said angirly, not understanding why she had to explain herself to him. "And that's why you and Anya will never work things out." She added hoping it would shut him up.  
  
Xander looked taken back and his eyes narrowed. She had hurt him and of course now she regretted it, but she wasn't going to apologize.  
  
"Are you guys ready to go to school?" He called to Dawn, never wavering his look at Buffy, until then.  
  
"I'm ready!" Dawn called happily from the door and they both exited after her, letting her talk so that she would fill the awkward silence. 


	3. Chapter three

Disclaimer ~ cha... I wish, dont you? maybe one day... When I am smart and not sooooooo yeah...  
  
Chapter Three  
  
  
"Two men walked into a bar... no wait how does the bloody thing go? cant remember, can't remember alot of things lately, like the smell of her hair, very enticing. like citrus juice. Oranges, yes smells like oranges with a dash of cinnamin. other one, what's the name, lil bit, she's a cutie, got to keep the young lads away from her, have to protect the sun that rises on the western border... here in california... Should go pay a visit, to the others... Should be merry and nice, maybe go for a car drive out to see the fallen Angel, he knows about this whole soul bit..."  
  
"Spike?" he heard her call to him.  
  
"Oh lookie lookie lookie lookie..." Spike continued as he held on the piping above his head and stared at the blonde woman who had captured his heart..  
  
"Spike what are you doing?" Buffy asked concerned as he kept repeating the one word.  
  
"Can't think of anything to come after lookie, well things that can rhyme yes, but not makes sense, no no, of course not... so I must keep repeating till I can figure out what to do, lookie lookie..." He began.  
  
"You make sense? that would be a first for a long while." She mummbled and wlaked closer to where he was standing.  
  
"Aww slayer, what's the matter? what posessed you to return to the underworlds where I toss about like a rainbow trout on a hot sunny day?" He said smiling, and then his smile faded.  
  
"Stay away from me, why do you come to see me after all the things I did? You shouldn't be here, you shouldn't care! caring is wrong for a monster like me, stay away, stay away, you should go, run run far from here, where the monster cannot be near." He said collapsing to a corner of the room and crying.  
  
Buffy didn't know what to say, what was there to say?   
What posessed her to be so nice to him and yet be so cold and turn away his affections? especially in this state? She knew that he could never harm her, he could only harm himself now, that is what the universe left him with.   
but maybe that was why she was so very afraid. Spike was apart of her, whether she liked it or not. Her animal instinct, her carniverous spirit. Her love that was unconditional towards her scoobies, everything that was in her connected to him now, and that is why she could not be apart of him. She was afriad the more he hurt himself the more he hurt her.  
  
That was another hint the first slayer was trying to give her, another small indication that life was never easy or ment to stay the same.  
  
Wasn't this why Angel left? because he thought that she couldn't handle the stresses of being inlove with a mortal?  
  
Maybe, but her life had turned full circle and here she was yet again in love with a souled creature of the night. Something she had promised not to do ever again.  
  
Slowly she knelt down to where he was cowering, and placed her lunchbox on the floor. she opened it up and took out a sandwich and the container of blood she brought him.   
  
"Why?" He asked as she passed the container to him and she sat cross legged on the cement floor.  
  
"You ryhmed..." She smiled sweetly and continued to nibble on her sandwich as she turned away from his look of awe.  
  
  
^ ^  
(VV)  
  
  
Xander watched the men infront of him work. He tried to concentrate, he truly did but he couldn't. Being the boss left him time to let his feeble mind wander to this morning when Buffy had pointed out his worst fear. but she didn't know why. She didn't know how he was torn inside all summer, ever since the encounter with Willow. She didn't know how he debated and went over his reasoning and feelings since then and this morning she opened the door to memories he tried to keep locked away.  
  
  
~FLASHBACK~  
  
Xander was the first to move. When he did he realized Willow had fallen asleep. The powers in her had been on overload, he realized. She needed the rest. He picked her up in his arms and started on the 2-mile walk home. Yes home, but not Buffy's house were they all lived like a family, her, Tara, Buffy, and Dawn. The house of his girls he had so fondly called it with Anya. She used to smile and tease that maybe she should move in there as well. He did not take Willow there because she would only feel destroyed, but to put her up in his apartment until she gained enough courage to face the friends she had turned her back on.  
  
Pain ripped through the wounds she had inflicted on him, but he knew they would heal. As would she. He could tell when he looked down at her face. She had quietly surrendered to the unconscious state that could be as judging as the conscious. In looking at her he found it hard to believe that only ten minutes ago this scared, lonely little girl was a threat to the world. She was so fragile, so frail, and looked the same as she had looked the day he met her when they were 5.   
  
All of a sudden it hit him like a bomb. It had been the truth for years and they had only explored it once. He loved this girl. More then on a friend level, but literally was devoted to her. Maybe that is a friend level he thought. Nevertheless, he knew that no matter whom he was with or what happened he would always be with her. He began to wonder if that was why he had really left Anya standing at the alter, why was he so afriad of commitment? Was it because he always wanted to keep that door open for Willow to run into his arms and tell him that she still loved him as well? Why he had cheated on Cordiella? Why he would never truly find the right girl? Was it because he always compared them to his sweet Willow, that until now could do no harm? And if so, why not be with her?  
  
He knew why.  
  
She had wanted Oz, and then after Oz she was with Tara. He did not know how she felt anymore.  
  
~END FLASHBACK~  
  
"SIR!" Called one of the men.  
  
"Yeah?" Xander called back flashing back into reality.  
  
"One of the men found something sir." The man said to him, giving Xander enough time to get his head in focus and follow the other man to the site.  
  
Slowly they weeded through the other people and to a large hole.  
  
"Well?" Xander asked and looked to the where the men were looking, inside the whole was a large black stone, it looked like it was crystal and was two feet in diameter.  
  
That was not what struck the men's attention though, it was the fact the large crystal was swimming in blood. 


End file.
